Communication is a paramount ability for good Eco players and a minimal level of communication and exchanges is necessary to survive. Therefore Eco is inherently social, even political at times. You may avoid communication, stay in your corner or even start a trade war with your neighbors. However, you will contribute to the failure of your world (people leaving is bad in a collaborative scenario) or experience only a fraction of what this great game offers.
I have seen countless admins create a "laid-back" or "no trouble" server and failed. Best to acknowledge that different points of view is a natural thing and face it with a positive attitude instead of fear and suspicion. Don't fear to put in place laws to safeguard balance. But also, servers with clear expectations from the start tend to survive longer.
This game offers a variety of communication tools and they are evolving in the right direction (i.e. multi channel chat). But discord is a specialized platform of communication and still offers more options such as posting official messages, follow long discussions, share pictures and building designs made with Google Spreadsheet, etc. One server I played on even had application forms for city projects. Note that using voice communication only within Eco brings a nice flavor (ex.: give meaning to make a town hall, encourage people to be close, etc). Server "Le Village" even held a Diva show!
This serves two purpose: creating links with other players is the most important one. When and if you are able to say when you leave, tell it to others: they might seize this opportunity to offer you a last minute deal or mission.
Using the "o" shortcut, you will find a tool to set a personal objective that others can see. Most of the time, people write their skill path (ex.: 1-logging 2-carpentry 3-mechanics), but you may mention offers and projects too.
If you have no personal objective, say it ! Writing something like "I still don't know which path to choose" might trigger messages from your future neighbors.
Active and collaborative servers require an incredible amount of efforts to maintain. Early, you need things like laws and road plans. You also need positive leaders for the economy, distribution of modules, research, welcoming and supporting new players and urban projects management. I have seen teams up to 5 admins + 2 moderators for the best Eco servers. Don't be this person requesting that everyone else setup everything for you to enjoy later: engage.
I know it's hard for many players to just type something in the chat. The internet is dangerous and definitively full of strange people (me included). But skills distribution is important in servers with less than 20 players. Discussing theoretical skill scenarios is still a low risk subject. If your world goes well, the next discussions will be about subjects with higher stakes. So better test how this goes now instead of realizing 20 hours later that you are surrounded by a bunch of careless losers.
However, if you choose a skill, your role is to provide assistance for that skill. Exploitation with a monopoly is not a valid choice for a collaborative setup in this game. Also, understand that it's a good thing to have multiple copies of each crafting skill.
I strongly, strongly, strongly encourage you to choose at least one skill to gather resources (hunting, gathering, mining or logging).
Now that you communicate, promoting exchanges is your next priority in Eco. On normal settings, you will have to pick special skills that others won't have (about 6 to 8 over 30 days). Some skills allow you to do basic things in a more productive and eco-friendly way as well. Your role is to share these skills with the other players on a regular basic. Exchanges also have roots in the non-zero sum game benefits of Eco. As an example, when a miner sells rocks (or an item made of rocks) in exchange for wood (or an item made of wood), both players end up with more resources than if they get them on their own. The game is full of such bonus and sharing/exchanging is the key.
While people argue about profits and the price of tomatoes, you can collectively end up with a far better game by keeping profit margins at 0 and make as many fair exchanges as you can. Consider the "hidden profit" brought by these non-zero sum benefits and use a variety of exchange tools such as contracts, work parties, barter stores, coop stores and normal stores.
It's a weird advice for a collaborative game, but see it as a form of training. We will need you in good shape...really. Please make sure you learn how to cut a tree, make hewn, dig, hunt, etc.
This training is very useful. Basically, in your solo game, accumulate food in your backpack for about 8,000 calories. Then, put a stockpile near a forest. Add a repair station and 15 rocks in it.
Now go, go, go! The goal is to see how many wood logs you can harvest in 5 minutes. Use a timer and make sure you remove every debris/stumps and replant some trees within the time allotted. Note calories spent as well as stones used to repair.
Repeat, but this time put the stockpile near a sandstone spot in the desert or grassland and see how many rocks you can get in 5 minutes. You may repeat again for fibers, animals, crops, sand, travel distance, etc.
These experiments will be really helpful to develop your productivity. But their most important use is to give you a general idea of the worth of each resource. You will need this information to set your store and propose fair exchanges.
Plant fibers aren't cheap.
I get it : it's not natural to settle close to online strangers. Territorial feuds are sadly common in Eco too. But being close brings so many advantages to save time, resources and develop a sense of community. At some point, being far effectively removes you from the community and leads to abandon. Also, roads are especially costly to make, so watch out for scattered bases or maps bigger than 2km.
As a rule of thumb, try to have a base of about 3x3 (9 papers) to 4x4 (16 papers) land claims near the most players. Keep a gap of 2 or 3 land claims between each player. Talk to them before settling, insisting on the maximum area you plan to claim. Then, invest massively on lands rich in resources within a maximum of 250 meters from your base. Likewise, the worst approach for a collaborative server is to aim for a large domain around your home where you expect to gather rocks, wood and maintain your own little farm: this is not minecraft.
This is only a point of view based on observations of the most successful collaborative servers. Take time to understand the culture of your server: people might prefer large domains safely apart and react very badly if you get too close.
Check regularly the contract section of the economic menu ("y" shortcut). You will find contracts and work party where your time and skills are needed. Again, your skills need to be shared if there is any chance for this to work. It's not a solid trend, but worlds where players never use contracts are usually of lower quality and at risk of failure early.
Later, make contracts and work party yourself when you get the chance.
Try to make your store withing the first hour or less if you are a chef or logging expert. You need 96 hewn logs only: 5x5 platform; 3 blocks high; 5x5 roof. Stores are an easy way to give access to your skills and have access to others' skills.
This trick is usually discovered later, but it can greatly improve your game. Basically, you can make a second store and set it's currency to none or barter. Now, the customers must buy and sell for the same value. For instance, you may allow players to get rocks and mortar to make mortared stones. This special store will make sure people really get the product when they bring ingredients, hence creating a smoother resource flow. You won't be stuck anymore with costly modules because you wanted to help players bring their own module for upgrade and one genius thought it was a good way to make money. You will also allow all kinds of players access to your skill, which is your priority here.
I suggest you try this as your second store on a single crafted item that people need in high amounts or use costly ingredients (ex.: building blocks, food, mortar, cloth, upgrade modules). Make sure to sell these ingredients at your main store too. It makes wonders for upgrade modules and tool repair.
This is a very important aspect of the economy. It doesn't absolutely need a written and inflexible solution, but rather a general positive perception from players. Otherwise, it creates tension, inequity and demotivation very fast.
You may have guessed by now that the most difficult aspect of Eco is not destroying the environment: communities usually fail because people leave. When you know where to look, you can predict it at least a week before it happens.
First, your community must reach a general agreement on the relative price between resources (ex.: wood, stones, clay, ore, carcasses, crops). At the beginning, we all use different currencies, so my tomatoes can be worth 1 nodeldon's credit and you may sell your tomatoes 2 awesomeplayer's credits. This is not a problem: set the value you want for your own credits. However, if we both buy wood logs at 2 credits, the price of wood relative to tomatoes is not the same between our stores (2/2 and 1/2).
Your solo training should have given you hints about the price of wood logs relative to crops: wood logs are worth more. Therefore, by selling tomatoes 2 credits and buying wood at 2 credits, awesomeplayer proposes a pretty bad deal for the other players. This is because the ratio between the value of tomatoes and wood units is 1:1 while the ratio found in a lot of servers is usually around 2 credits for crops : 5 credits for wood.
What is to be learned here is that each resource takes different time and efforts to gather. A general balance between the value of resources allows players to get the same worth of resources if they invest the same amount of time in the game. This equilibrium brings equity and trust.
Price equilibrium is not a perfect science, but successful servers tend to reach similar relative prices over time. Wood can be worth 1 credits or 100 credits as long as stones, ore, crops and carcasses have a fair relative price. What is certain, is large differences in price from this equilibrium leads to exploitation, loss of motivation, unhealthy competition and server failure. The best servers further have mechanisms (ex.: peer-based pressure, government stores, laws) to fight unbalance caused by attempts at dumping and exploitation. In all cases, actively seek full understanding of this equilibrium with your fellow citizens and make sure your decision will stand against the usual "oups, I forgot", "I didn't know" or "I picked the same price as my neighbor".
I like minimal prices for resources set into laws. We can all make honest mistakes and this system prevents them. Discuss these prices every 4 or 5 days.
The other aspect of price understanding is profit margins. Players in Eco routinely buy resources and sell crafted items. The recipes (including calories, fuel and module rebate) should be used as guidelines to calculate their cost. However, players add an arbitrary amount as "profit". The profit margin can be 2%, 5% 10% or even 80% depending on beliefs, cultural background and experience with competitive servers. Players who don't take one of the basic gathering skill (mining, hunting, gathering, logging) naturally tend to put higher profits too. Few players even say to sell as high as you can !
The thing is, economy in Eco do not follows the same rules as in real life. Even though, real economy is not only driven by the supply/demand law and is far more complex than most players believes. Just think about real-world quotas, subsidies, patents, legal minimum prices, legal maximum prices, government owned companies, public schools, etc. Moreover, high profit margins in Eco are not easily dealt with...at least not fast enough. They lead to massive abandon and generate high profits margins at other stores before any significant competition regulates the market (even in servers with 100 players). Crafters should be compensated for the time they take to manage stockpiles and provide a service, but everyone should actively seek to keep this arbitrary percentage at a reasonable level. Discuss this margin and find a comfortable ground (mine is now 2 to 3% depending on the complexity of the craft = time invested in management). A rather useful law by Spouke fights this phenomenon too.
Once you communicate well and you reach a fair and active world, you must do your part in being productive. In a collaborative scenario, being productive means helping your community and improves the benefits of the non-zero sum exchanges.
Two nice keys on your keyboard. Try them when you walk, when you use tools, when you add work to a crafting table and when you transfer items between storage. Try vertical mining and other basic tricks as well.
One of your objective for your solo game could be to make 4 bases: food, wood, masonry and smelting. Make each base neatly apart, keeping the same distance between them as if there were 4 players. Each base should have a store, even if you cannot use stores alone. This way, you will develop a sense of space and organisation required for each of the main industries. You will also get hints about the challenge of distance between players.
Same as before. Being closer opens up nice opportunities for exchange. I may get repetitive, but it's important: Eco has several non-zero sum game benefits. The more exchanges are made, the more productive each player gets. More productive exchanges nurture trust and leads to further productive exchanges such as the elite-level shared workspace and residence. Some servers forbid teams (settled at the same location and numerous automatic exchanges) in part because of the huge productivity advantage it brings to every teammate.
High experience bonus allows players to reach high levels in their skills, which reduces the time to get resources and unlock recipes that are needed to go forward. XP bonus are obtained from food and housing.
Bad food stays in the stomach and cripples your XP bonus for 24 hours. Always avoid raw food and aim for a good supplier. If good food is not available at a cheap price, discuss, help another chef to settle, become a chef yourself or leave.
Once you have food and a store, aim to stockpile resources (exchanges...not alone) to make a house once basic modules 2 and a good carpenter and masons are available. Again, discuss, help another, become one or leave.
You may also rent a house : it's rare, but it's cool when it works.
Why leave so fast ? Well, I also said to do something about it first and communication remains a priority. But the reason for being so severe about XP is that overall distribution of XP is a very strong indicator of abandon and server failure. If your neighbors fail to collaborate with something as mundane as a salad or a wooden latrine, your server is almost sure to fail within the first week. If a miracle happens, just hang in there for 30 days of feeling exploited each time you need something...
Watch out: sources of XP (food and furniture) and steam trucks are the best exploitation traps set for new players. I would rather like to see new players with high expectations than more people fuel the ranks of unaware virtual slaves. I have seen too many players leaving servers angrily, only to apply the same exploitation schemes themselves on another server (and fail too).
This blog is about collaboration in Eco. You can have a lot of fun in competitive worlds as long as you are aware of it. In these scenarios, XP is one of the main "battlegrounds".
In a way, XP distribution in a community is a consequence of the collaborative culture, economic approaches and communication of its members. This means that if you are the only one with a good XP, you are loosing : the goal is to allow the maximum amount of citizens to have access to food and housing.
A good logging expert can sell basic upgrade modules 1 (BU1) within the first 30 minutes of the game. Modules drastically reduce the cost of crafted items by applying a rebate on resources as well as crafting time (which reduces fuel usage too).
Module rebates are applied at each crafting step, so if you craft an item from wood with a BU1, it will cost 90% of the original cost. If this crafted item is used to make another crafted item, the latter will cost 81% compared to the original recipe. You can hope to get BU3 on day 2 in a collaborative community. This module produces items that cost 60% of the original recipe, then 36% and 21% for the next crafting steps. Less crafting time can also cut your cost significantly in fuel (ex.: bricks, glass, metal).
As an example, most basic furniture requires between 2 and 3 crafting steps, so furniture can cost less than half to about a third of the original cost quickly. In fact, a popular exploitation trick in Eco is to pick the carpentry skill at day 1, get modules, and then sell furniture at their original cost in exchange for wood. Each time a citizen buys a complete set of furniture, the carpenter gets enough resources to make 2 or 3 sets for free.
As a rule of thumb, not being able to get a basic upgrade module 2 at day 2 on a server is a strong indicator of server failure. This is the conclusion I draw from many observations since 2018. Same if modules are sold with a high profit margin. Like XP, module distribution is about allowing every player an easy access to them to get the healthiest community. Don't join the muttons, work this out actively with communication and deals or leave for a better world.
These missions are both tied to what experts do in this game when trust is high. The idea here is to show them from the start. Keep them in mind for the future.
It's simple, discuss with others, design a building, bring your share of material (rent works as well) and get a great bonus for everyone. In my experience with Eco, a group of players who manage to exchange via stores and contracts, but share workshops and housing, yield impressive communities. The difference between this and teams of friends, is the latter cannot easily grow beyond a few members.
An intermediate step toward this goal is to discuss joint buildings and government-made fablabs.
Play 2-3 hours per day, vanilla settings. At the end of day 3, the XP bonus should be between 80 and 100 with tier 1 technology only and for every citizen. Otherwise hang the chef, butcher, carpenter, mason, tailor... Everyone but the engineer, but only because you need to build the gallows.
I put this category last in the list of priorities. It is a vital part of the game, but it becomes easy and natural in good communities that master communication, exchanges and productivity. The opposite isn't true.
You may craft your own research table, but why ? A research table is the most costly table of the tier 1 era and one of the easiest crafting table to share : you will only use a small fraction of the recipes there and you don't need to link a big storage to it. Early on, the space required for a research table could be replaced by an extra crafting station or a clever barter store to max out your skill points. In short, actively seek to share your table: servers with a public research table are usually promising.
I hope you'll enjoy this game. Don't hesitate to communicate if you want more tricks and tips for collaboration.
Comments
Post a Comment